Dayton’s newest Pizza Hut can’t deliver until it finds more drivers

A new Pizza Hut designed to serve the downtown Dayton and University of Dayton area has opened in a former Family Video store on Wayne Avenue, but it’s only able to offer carryout for now until it is able to hire enough delivery drivers, a spokeswoman for its franchise owner said today.

The new store opened for carryout orders only on Dec. 31 at 1910 Wayne Ave., according to Carol M. Magazzeni, director of marketing and public relations for Pizza Hut franchisee Hallrich Inc. The new location is designed to serve as a carryout-and-delivery store, but remains in a “driver deficit,” Magazzeni said. The restaurant will launch delivery as soon as it has hired and trained a sufficient number of delivery drivers, she said.

Interested persons can apply at jobs.pizzahut.com. A sign in front of the Wayne Avenue store says applicants also can call (937) 900-0234.

Pizza shops have struggled to hire delivery drivers for several months as meal-delivery companies such as DoorDash and UberEats have expanded throughout the region. Instead of touting the latest special offer, sign boards at multiple local pizza restaurants focus on the the search for delivery drivers.

The new Pizza Hut is anticipated to employ 25 to 30, Magazzeni has said.

The Stow, Ohio-based Hallrich has been expanding Pizza Hut’s footprint across the Dayton area in recent months, opening new locations in both Kettering and Beavercreek before turning its attention to its new Wayne Avenue location.

Hallrich purchased the rights to operate Pizza Hut restaurants in the greater Dayton market from the Pizza Hut corporate company in June 2017. With the addition of Montgomery, Clark, Greene, Warren, Darke, Logan and Champaign counties, Hallrich now operates about two-thirds of the Pizza Hut restaurants in Ohio, the franchisee’s spokeswoman said.

The new Pizza Hut locations join an already competitive Dayton-area pizza market, which has long been dominated by venerable hometown chains such as Cassano’s Pizza King and Marion’s Piazza; by other national chains such as Domino’s, Little Caesar’s and Papa John’s; and by the dozens of smaller chains and single-store independents that call the Miami Valley home.